What it Meant to be Rock Lee
by Uzamaki-Girl
Summary: On a rainy sunday afternoon Lee contemplates Love, Death and Friendhship. LeeSakura SasukeSakura


**A/N- **I got inspired, so here is a fic dedicated to Rock Lee. Cuase there just aren't enough in the world.

DISCLAIMER- I do not own naruto. 

Title- What it means to be Rock Lee.

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Lee walked silently to his apartment, paper bag clutched to his chest. He had left around noon to get some groceries and had been caught in an unexpected rain storm. It didn't bother him though, rain had always been his friend. Walking up the rickety steps to his apartment Lee thought about his sensei for the first time in months.

/_Flashback/_

_Lee gulped the water hungrily, some managing to fall down his shirt while Gai laughed humoursly at the scene before him. Lee stopped in mid drink. It wasn't because his sensei had laughed but the way the laughed sounded. The laugh was forced and as fake as the smile etched across Gai's face. Setting down his water bottle Lee turned to his teacher with serious eyes. _

_"Sensei, I can tell the difference between fake smiles and real ones having had a few fake ones myself."_

_Gai's face instantly lost his smile as his eyes clouded over and dulled. He seemed to struggle with his words, brows furrowing and face tense. "Lee, I have a mission." Was all that Gai said_

_Lee suddenly became very interested in the ground. "Ah, well wait a few seconds and I'll see if I can go with you." Lee said standing up._

_"Lee." Gai started_

_"It's really no trouble at all." Lee said ignoring him while gathering up his supplies. _

_"Lee." Gai started again._

_"I'm sure she won't-"_

_"Lee-"_

_"It'll only take a minute-"_

_"LEE! I'M DYING!"_

_An uncomfortable silence filled the training grounds. Lee's backpack fell to the ground, supplies forgotten. He turned around wide eyed to stare at his teacher._

_Gai avoided his gaze and swallowed harshly, unsure of his voice. "I was diagnosed a couple of days ago with Lung cancer. I thought it best not to tell you unless it was for dire circumstances."_

_Lee was confused. "Why would you being on a mission be considered dire circumstances?" A second later Lee's eyes widened more if possible as if something finally dawned on him. "Y-You're coming back aren't you?" Lee's voice was shaky and full of apprehension._

_Gai shut his eyes and turned away from the student he had raised and watched grow. "Lee, missions are classified. You know this."_

_Lee stifled back a sob and sat down next to the teacher he thought of as a father. "This is so unfair Gai-sensei! You've always been healthy! How is it fair that you get lung cancer when all Asuma- sensei, who smokes everyday of his life ends up with is bad breath!" He yelled in exasperation. Lee could not control the angry tears making its way down his face and frankly he didn't care. His mentor was dying._

_Gai sighed wearily and made his way over to his pupil. He did the only thing he could do at the moment…he hugged him._

_/Flashback ends/_

Gai's funeral had been held two weeks after their last training session. Lee took some solace in knowing that his teacher had died protecting their village instead of slowly in a hospital room. No matter how much he had needed his role model, father and best friend during those two weeks, he would not dishonor his sensei by crying any longer.

Lee had fallen into a temporary state of insomnia after the funeral, convinced that the death god was coming for him next. It had been then that Sakura had become his private nurse. Under her diligent care and supervision he had been himself in not time. His feelings for her had increased ten fold although he didn't know about her feelings for him. During the next few months they had grown a stronger bond and even started dating but Lee was no fool. Though he knew that a part of her heart loved him the majority of it was still Sasuke's. Sasuke had returned to the village three weeks after he and Sakura started dating. He saw the little looks she gave him when she thought he wasn't looking and the silent longing in her eye. Loving someone sometimes meant letting them go which was what Lee believed his case to be. He still remembered the night Sakura ended it all the while crying and begging him not to hate her. Lee had only smiled softly and told her he could never hate her. He wanted Sakura to be happy, even if it wasn't with him. He would always be there for her whether it was just to talk or if she simply needed a shoulder to cry on it. He would wait for her forever if he had to. And wait he did.

Standing outside his window, Lee watched as the rain began to clear and the sun moved out from behind the clouds; producing an array of different colors that could only be called a rainbow. Shifting slightly Lee's eyes stopped on the picture he and his team had taken when they first became a genin.

He had always had interesting friends. For one there was Neji who started out as a destiny crazed teen and ended up married to his fellow teammate TenTen. He remembered the day Neji confronted him at the cenotaph where team 7 use to train.

/_Flashback/_

_The wind whistled softly as it sifted through Neji's long hair. He had watched Lee sit silently in front of the gray stone for an hour and thought it was time to interfere. There was nothing wrong with visiting a love one; he having done it on many occasions himself, but it did become a problem when you didn't know how to let go of that loved one._

_"Lee, let's go." Neji said leaving no room for argument. "You've been staring at that cenotaph for an hour."_

_"You go on without me." Lee said, a fake smile plastered to his face. "I'll only be a few more seconds." There was silence for a few moment's, Neji not knowing where to start._

_"Lee." Neji said briskly" Do you think Gai- sensei would have wanted you to waste you life away in the past?"_

_Lee took a seat on the grass, his eyes never leaving the cenotaph before answering nonchalantly "All I have is the past."_

_Neji's patience snapped like a stretched rubber band. "Bull shit!" Neji yelled while walking over to Lee and yanking him off the ground. "That's not true and you know it. No matter how crazy you and Gai have always been me and TenTen have never turned our back on you, so why would we now?"_

_The training ground was thick with tension. The heavy sound of Neji's breathing being the only noise in the field._

_Lee raised his watery eyes to Neji, trying valiantly to will the tears away. "I don't want to forget him." He whispered in a soft shaky voice. It was almost to low to hear, almost._

_All anger dissipating, Neji stood once again next to his teammate before turning to him with serious eyes. "Then don't, but don't continue to dishonor Gai-sensei's memory by wallowing in self pity. What do you think Gai-sensei would have wanted you to do?"_

_Lee knew the answer. He had known it all along. For him it had been simply seeing what was right in front of his face. He could still see his sensei smiling at him, teeth shining and glorious in his 'good guy pose'._

_"He would want me to live." Lee said, no hesitancy entering his voice._

_"Then live." Neji said slowly almost softly. And live he did._

_/Flashback ends/_

To Lee, Neji was a brother. It didn't matter that he didn't show his emotions or even that some part of him was still shrouded in mystery. There were some things that didn't need to be said. Some things were just understood. And after that day on the training grounds Lee_ finally_ understood.

The rain had dried up nicely, leaving the streets of Konoha glistening like fresh morning dew. He gathered up his training supplies, wondering if Neji wanted to spar. He smiled. Who knows, maybe he would even ask Sakura out for dinner. Walking out into the afternoon sunshine, Lee closed his eyes and inhaled deeply; breathing in the fresh air. Like everyone, he had had his share of ups and down but he would stay strong and not let the past dictate his future. He owed that to his sensei, the people who loved him but most of all to himself. Like the ninja's before him he would protect konoha and all of his precious people.

Because that's what it meant to be Rock Lee.

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End file.
